Benazir Bhutto, the former Prime Minister of Pakistan, vowed yesterday she would go 'back to basics' and invoke her late father's name to win her way back into power in her country.

Bhutto, who was exiled from Pakistan eight years ago after two stints in government that both ended amid accusations of incompetence and scandal, said her campaign would be inspired by the old slogan of her Pakistan People's Party (PPP) - 'food, clothing, shelter'.

'Under my leadership, the PPP will bring moderation, democracy and the basics that the nation's poorest need,' she said. 'We represent the underprivileged, the peasants, women, young people, the minorities, all those who have been neglected by elite governments.'

Bhutto, many of whose key supporters are drawn from among the so-called 'feudal' landowners of Pakistan's south and east, confirmed talks with representatives of General Pervez Musharraf, who has ruled Pakistan since taking power in a bloodless coup in 1999.

'Pakistani politics is a rollercoaster ride,' Bhutto told The Observer. 'We were 80 per cent there, then negotiations stalled, then we started off again. My return will take place irrespective of the dialogue process.'

Bhutto, educated at Oxford and Harvard and the first woman to govern a post-colonial Muslim state, risks imprisonment if she returns to Pakistan, as multi-million-pound corruption charges dating from the mid-1990s are still outstanding. However, with his popularity at an all-time low, Musharraf may be tempted to do a constitutional deal with Bhutto to give his rule some much-needed domestic and international democratic legitimacy.

Time is, however, running out for the former premier to return. Both Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, the Prime Minister ousted in a coup by Musharraf nine years ago and subsequently given a life sentence for hijacking, want to be present for presidential elections that, for constitutional reasons, have to be held within four months, but are likely to take place within six weeks.

The exiled Sharif said yesterday he would stick to his plan to return to Pakistan tomorrow despite a request from Saudi Arabia to abandon his planned trip. 'I will go back to Pakistan on 10 September with my brother because my country needs me,' he told a news conference in London, hours after an envoy urged him to respect a Saudi-brokered deal made in 2000 under which he had agreed to leave Pakistan for 10 years. It is unclear what kind of welcome he might receive in a country ruled by a man he once attempted to kill.

Bhutto is now almost certain to return herself, albeit after Sharif. To become premier once more, she would have to reverse a constitutional amendment passed in the aftermath of the 1999 coup and directed at her and Sharif that limits individuals to two terms as Prime Minister. 'I am doing this for the constitution, not for personal benefit,' Bhutto said.

'If the people of Pakistan want me there and want to trust me with the leadership of my country it will be a great honour to accept it.'

Pakistan's government yesterday urged Sharif not to return home. A judge has already said that the industrialist's brother faces arrest on terrorism charges. Mohammed Ali Durrani, the Information Minister, reiterated that Sharif had only been allowed to leave because of the pledges he made to the leaders of several countries, including Saudi Arabia and Lebanon, to stay away.

'Sharif should honour his word and should respect the commitment he had made with certain Islamic countries to secure his release. He should not come,' Durrani said. Despite widespread discontent with continuing military rule, Pakistani commentators have not greeted the news of the return of Sharif and Bhutto with any notable enthusiasm. 'As ever, everyone is posing as the saviour of Pakistan. We have the old saviour, Sharif, the older saviour, Bhutto and the oldest saviour of all, the army,' said Najam Sethi, editor of Pakistan's Friday Times. 'If they can do a deal and put aside the authoritarianism and personal ambition they have always shown then they can do some good. If not, it will just be a disaster.'

Bhutto insisted that her policies would bring growth, jobs and healthcare to Pakistan's poor. 'Food, clothing and shelter, that's the basis of the PPP,' said the veteran politician, who splits her time between Dubai and London. The slogan was coined by her father, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, when he launched the PPP in 1967, 12 years before he was hanged by military dictator Zia ul-Haq.

Despite a series of referendums and elections, Musharraf has never successfully established a strong democratic base and has been forced to rely on fringe groups or breakaway factions of Pakistan's main political parties to bolster his rule.

Critics say this has led to a surge in Islamic militancy; yesterday a bomb exploded outside an army-run bank in the restive frontier town of Peshawar.

Musharraf has struggled to maintain a balance between policies that please Western allies such as the US and that are acceptable to a population that has shown itself to be increasingly anti-American. The recent armed assault on Islamic militants who had been allowed to establish a stronghold in a mosque in the centre of Islamabad, the capital, was well received by the West and endorsed by Bhutto, but caused angry demonstrations in much of Pakistan.